Could the Vikings keep Kirk Cousins and Joshua Dobbs?

One site seems to think it’s a possibility

Following the season-ending Achilles injury to quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Minnesota Vikings made a trade with the Arizona Cardinals for Joshua Dobbs, a deal that has already paid significant dividends. Dobbs’ performance has prompted a debate, even in these pages, that the Vikings are going to have a decision to make between Cousins and Dobbs at the end of the season.

But what if the Vikings don’t want to make a decision? What if they decide there’s room on the roster for both Cousins and Dobbs? One site has suggested that it’s a possibility. . .actually, more than just a possibility, as they’re predicting that it’s going to happen.

Spotrac, a site that is dedicated to the contract side of the various sports leagues, has an article up projecting the next contracts for both Cousins and Dobbs (and Jared Goff, but who cares). In that article, they make it clear that they think the Vikings will re-sign both Cousins and Dobbs during the 2024 offseason.

First, they project the Vikings to sign Cousins to a 3-year, $120 million deal with $80 million guaranteed. That would probably be Cousins’ last big NFL contract, as he would be 39 by the time it was over with and probably ready to hang it up. On top of that, they rightly point out that Cousins would likely accept such a deal because of the nature of the injury he suffered.

That brings us to Dobbs, who Spotrac says the Vikings can re-sign for a two-year, $18 million price with $9 million guaranteed. That would make Dobbs the highest-paid backup quarterback in the league. It would also commit the Vikings to about $50 million/year at the quarterback position, assuming that Jaren Hall would stay around as the third-string quarterback.

While this would be an ideal situation for the Vikings in that it would give them both a quality starter and a backup that you know can actually win football games for you, I’m not sure how realistic it’s going to be a couple of months from now. If Dobbs keeps this up, his price tag is going to (rightly) continue to climb, and some team is likely going to roll the dice on him to be a starter. After all, if you remember back to the 2018 offseason, Case Keenum got a two-year, $36 million deal from Denver to be their starter.

Of course, he’s now on his fifth team in the six seasons since he left Minnesota, but the larger point is that he parlayed a great season as a backup into a hefty payday and made it pretty clear he wasn’t going to settle for a backup role. And if Dobbs keeps up at the rate he has in his first two games in Minnesota, he probably won’t, either.

So, again, while this would be a really nice scenario for the Vikings, I’m just not sure how plausible it is. What do you folks think?